Thomson, which owns the right to license the MP3 format, is a predictable member of the alliance (if the labels end up using MP3 to sell music, they would end up owing Thomson money). Other members include companies that make watermarking technology, one that specializes in monitoring broadcasts, and others that use a combination of the two to prevent copyrighted maps and films from being distributed illegally.

The digital watermarks from DWA member companies are apparentlyinaudible, despite being embedded directly into the audio signal. They survive digital-to-analog conversion, as well as most bit rateconversions – as long as the resulting bit rate isn't low enough toobscure the watermark. (I assume the watermark is found in the upperfrequencies, since low bit rate songs typically sound worst in theupper registers.)

Looking at the list of member companies, a blurry picture begins toemerge of what a digital music market for watermarked MP3 music might look like(in addition to what we've already seen from eMusic).Sites with some sort of blanket license could sell open, watermarkedMP3s serially with unique identifiers. Music software already keepsa tally of how many times you play a given track in order to createsmart playlists of popular songs; perhaps the software couldcommunicate to this tally to whoever sold you the MP3, who would thenuse that information to figure out how much to pay each of theartists/labels in its catalog, just as BMI and ASCAP do for radio stations and restaurants.